Hooker "Super Competition Long Tube Headers" I believe they are not stainless, as Hooker states they are 16 gauge mild steel. What you’re seeing is their “Ceramic Thermal Barrier Coating”, which comes at a cost, of course. These specific headers have history, as I detailed in post 61. To save you searching for that entry, I’ll recap. The original set of Hooker Headers looked VERY standard for tuned headers, but the result was a marriage between #5 exhaust tube and the power steering box. The installer had chosen the traditional “cure” of beating this brand new header tube into submission, which to me combined two results: one, it looked like crap, and two, raised the potential of heating the power steering box due to the near-touch with a tube that was still pretty warm, even with the ceramic coating. I mentioned this to the owner, but didn’t have any expectations of a cure, just registering my disappointment.

The next time I came to visit, I found he had purchased a completely new set of headers, a step up to Hooker’s “Super Competition” class of tuned headers, and the #5 tube was completed re-routed OVER the #7 exhaust! Elegant solution, although I notice that the new headers cost twice as much but no mention was made of upping my cost. I have no adequate words for the honor and quality of work exhibited by B&R Automotive, and only hope anyone who lives within reach of Centralia will at least consider them for the work! Here’s what the solution looks like, in relation to the power steering box:

 

Nice,hope that stuff works as advertised,sure look great.

 

Well, Hooker Headers are fairly well known, reputation-wise, and they've been making this coating for quite awhile, so I'm hoping they have maintained their standards. During break-in 25 minute run, with RPM's varying between 1800 and 2300, with splashes to 2500 every 5 minutes, no temperature anywhere on the engine/radiator package, including headers, exceeded 189 degrees per their infrared thermometer. Also, Bryson noted that the floorboard under the accelerator pedal (right where the open collectors driver-side bank was dumping out) never was more than "warm" which I think is a tribute to Lizard Skin's effectiveness. Note no jute backing or carpet was yet installed, just Lizard Skin over bare metal.

He also sent a very brief audio/video of the idle sound after the mufflers were installed, and it just made me hungry for more!

 

great build ! love it

 

Yes, me too!!! I'll love it even more once I take possession and start it up!

Sorry for the long silence. It’s been a while since Ricky had progressed to the point where he was ready to take that next step, involving interior finish-work at a local Upholstery Shop. Unfortunately, the God of Fire had struck down that shop some months ago, and the owner has been working to build a new shop, located a bit closer to Centralia, although still out in the country. In any event, the County finally furnished permission for Occupancy a week ago, and this Tuesday, Ricky traveled 30 miles to this brand new shop, earning the honor of being first car in. The shop owner estimated 4 weeks to finish, allowing for ordering unexpected parts. The interior is already partially built, as windows and seals are in on both sides, along with windshield and rear window. The headliner and Sail Boards are in, dash is in, and center console is in place, although only temporarily, as it will need to be lifted to complete carpeting. This shop also has a small bit of installation outside the car, to complete the vinyl roof cover with bottom trim.

Bryson reports that Ricky performed perfectly on the drive there, with smooth shifts, no weird noises, and the speedometer at 70 was only 2 mph off from his GPS speedo on his smart phone. Interior will be basic and black, as it was when Ricky came into my life. The only upgrade we allowed was lighted Sail Boards. Of course, there will be some hidden tricks, such as a USB receptacle inside the front ashtray, cabled to the Radio head-end. No smoking in this man’s fleet.

The Upholsterer also asked B&R to not mount the speakers, but leave them in his hands to install. Once I am able to contact him, I will ask him to prepare a paper template of the seat-back area between rear seat and trunk, to provide me with an outline for the ¾” High Density Particle Board I will fasten to the trunk-side of that partition. Those who have read this small novel will recall that this partition will not only seal out road noise coming into cabin from trunk, but will also serve as a mount for a 10” subwoofer, firing through the back seat into the cabin. It will also, once covered with maple boards on the trunk side, serve as a mount for the two amplifiers powering the stereo.

While waiting for the Upholstery Shop to become open, some other small tasks were accomplished, including aiming headlights, putting on miles in order to tune carb and timing, adding trunk and engine compartment LEDs, and once enough miles were on it, completing the welds to the fish-plates connecting the frame connectors to the front sub-frame. They only painted them for now, but will cover them with pickup bed-liner once he returns, to match the rest of the bottom pan.

Ricky wore temporary wheels for the drive to the Upholstery Shop, so the Centerlines could be handed off to an ‘alloy polishing shop’ for gleaming restoration. The brand new BF Goodrich TA’s are in hand and waiting for the wheels to come back. We opted to stay with the same size tires he has had since I owned him: P215/70 R14’s on the front, and P245/60 R15’s on the rear.

While I have tried to get out of the business of estimating when I will finally gain possession of this incredible toy, I am at least hoping for late May/early June, and especially hoping that will be in 2023!

 

I am now DEFINITELY out of the business of estimating delivery of Ricky Camaro. Late May/early June indeed. August here, but fast disappearing.

In the handbook of potent quotes, here is a favorite:
“Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small. Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.”

Oh, those mills of the gods… ‘Exceeding small’ indeed.

So, here we are, finding Ricky to be STILL in the upholstery shop! Unbelievable. He went in on April 11, and at this point, I have no idea when he will be completed and returned to B&R Auto. In the latest email I received, on 8-6, the owner said, in part, “I’m unable to give you a specific finish date at this time.”

This entire part of the project can only be described in two words, with the first one being ‘cluster’. Not totally, as the work that is being done is being very well done, but that really doesn’t explain how it could be approaching 4 months with an upholstery shop owner that says he cannot provide a finish date at this time. If there is any wisdom to be gained from this experience, it is this: do not be the first car into a brand new shop, especially when the shop hasn’t been finished, still isn’t finished, and the county code people intervene.

Meanwhile, it turns out that the body shop team at B&R Auto had NOT used actual Cordovan Maroon paint, instead using some VW shade that was more red. So, A) they are no longer employed there, for reasons not clear to me, and really none of my business, and B) the ownership is not happy at all with the winter-time paint that has been done, so he has announced that once Ricky returns, he is going to repaint the entire car with PPG base and clear in actual Cordovan Maroon. I traveled down in late June to receive a sample 6” square of metal with the PPG paint applied, took it out to the upholstery shop and held it up to Ricky and this is MUCH better! This is the actual color he once was (per pictures I have) and so I’m in ‘relax and enjoy’ mode, to quote part of a phrase. The good news, which I constantly search for (Hah!) is that the ownership has purchased an actual professional paint booth, heated, lighted, filtered, and fantastic! There is no longer a reason to fear winter-time paint jobs…

Also in the good news department, the Centerlines were entirely polished out by a sub that specializes in this work, and they are shockingly well done. New News: We changed tire choice after some meditation, and went with Cooper Cobra Radial GT’s, black walls out, and I really like them a lot. I’ve been participating on two separate Camaro blogs throughout this drawn-out process, and it seems everybody and their uncle chooses BF Goodrich Radial TA’s, white letters out, and I just decided that since the Coopers are hopefully equivalent, equally priced, and rarely seen, I would walk down that different path for now. Marching to my own drum, as it were. If it doesn’t turn out to be a good marriage, I can always change tires. Here we see the result:


In keeping with this project in general, the center caps are on back order. I just have to laugh, as there is no point in getting angry now. I keep telling myself that someday, I AM going to get my car, and when I do, it will be magnificent, and I am going to have so much fun running the back roads! Then, it will all be worth it. It’s just that I am witnessing yet another summer going away, and no joy.

I was able to start it up when I visited the upholstery shop so I could listen to the new exhaust, and oh, my. Like the saying goes, “there is no substitute for cubic inches.” The 3” tubes and Magnaflow mufflers work very well with those Hooker Headers! Such a fine tune this big block sings. Took this shot while I was down there, and this is the working definition of a smile! I just love that oil pan!



On the lighter side, we spent a little while creating a cardboard template of the trunk-side of the rear seat, that I will refine and use once the car is home, to craft the ¾” high density particle-board partition between the trunk and the cabin. For those scratching their heads, see entry #34 dated 12-13-2021. Here is how the template looks:



The particle board is stored on the other side of the shop and soon I’ll be moving the maple boards up and planning them smooth. I can’t wait until I’m actually installing the battery, amps, subwoofer and taking it in to have it powered up and tuned. Then, there’s only one question: will I be able to hear it? A true test for the Lizard Skin coatings versus the wondrous exhaust system…

I’ll be back once Ricky Camaro returns to B&R Auto, in the unknown and unknowable future. Sigh.

 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Ricky Camaro. I keep telling myself this, and yet, there he still sits, waiting for someday. I guess ‘someday’ has now (1-27-24) been defined by the restoration shop ownership, and I quote: ”It would seem April should be our closing month for this story.” And a story it is.

I left you in my last entry with Ricky captured in a sub-contractor’s upholstery shop… Ricky went into that newly-rebuilt shop on April 11 of last year, and let’s just say, festered there until November 8, SEVEN months later, when he was finally liberated. Here is a shot of his day of liberation, after he returned to the Body Shop at B&R Automotive:




On the positive side (using the term loosely) I will say that Ricky came out of that experience with seat frames blasted, repaired as needed, and refinished, carpet sort of done, door panels done with speakers mounted, but that’s pretty much it. On an even more positive side, the new upholstery shop, where he will journey soon, has indicated they are going to re-do all of that to make sure it was in fact done right, when they completely install the interior.

I want to step back here, to lend some perspective to this 3+ year journey from rust bucket to ‘better than new’. My effort here is to hopefully help others who are preparing to hire a restoration of a similar toy, that they might avoid some of the issues that have ensnared me. Primarily, I advise you to define scope, timeline and contingency in a contract with the contractor.

When I first invited this restoration shop’s owners down to view my long-garaged 1968 Camaro, they performed a fairly complete examination of the car’s condition, and we engaged in a discussion of what my history was with the car, and what I wanted them to do. Here is Ricky at that time, seemingly looking fairly good:





Off to the side, I also spent some time talking to references, both professionally and from prior customers. The story I got, repeatedly, always involved the concept of HONOR, and so I became comfortable with trusting my car to their care. This is a very small shop, so I was concerned with whether they might go TU in mid-restoration. My wife co-owned a small business for a number of years on the same street they are located on, so I was very familiar with the issues a small service-facility faces, with winning bids, running on cash receivables, making payroll, etc.

When they visited, my Camaro required you to wear breathing apparatus to sit inside, due to an invasion of field mice through the years that had been using it as a dormitory and latrine. There is no describing how bad it smelled! Paint was trashed, rear wheel wells were very cancered, belly pan was almost non-existent, and I wanted the Saginaw-trans and 327 replaced by a 396-Muncie M20 I had, to bring it back to original configuration. I had already removed the black vinyl roof to aid in their inspection. We talked about interior restoration, to replace the mouse-ruined seating/carpeting/headliner, and the trashed dash. But MOSTLY, we talked about just getting it drivable so I could once again enjoy my toy.

They told me to budget an NTE of $50K, and I gulped, somewhat shocked, dove into meditation-mode, talked with my wife, talked with my son, and ultimately agreed, as they explained the various expenditures needed.
One day, they showed up with their tow-truck, winched it aboard, and drove away with Ricky Camaro:


And the adventure began. My expectation then, (silly me) was to be driving him before the next fall.

This entire thread, covering these 3+ years is then, a story about HONOR, the evolution of a small shop, and also a CLASSIC description of scope-creep. Particularly a description of scope-creep. The initial tear-down of Ricky, preparing him for the rotisserie, revealed major body damage from one or more collisions prior to my ownership, and so, it became apparent that substantially more work would be required than we all initially realized. The owners assured me that this still fell within their contingency allowance.

So began a journey that is ultimately creating a vehicle better than new, in every respect. This was a perpetual evolution of choices, primarily by the shop but occasionally in consultation with me. For instance, I stressed my desire that they coat the fuel tank internally to ensure its long-term structural integrity. They simply bought a new fuel tank, sender, fuel lines, and spout. We did consult on details like upgrading to the Eaton Detroit True-trac differential, new R&P replacement/ratio, etc, but somewhere along the line, that original desire to just create a nice driver that was configured like it started in 1968 (NOT a modern car with a 1968 skin) transformed into the creation of a restoration-shop dream. BUT, the NTE never changed. That’s where the HONOR-piece comes in. At one point, the owner sat with me and said, if they were bidding this again, to come out like it is, it would have been more like $80K, which also would have meant it wouldn’t have happened. But what he was actually saying was that there is no profit for them in this job. Hmm…

There has been a price to pay for this shining example of scope-creep: Ricky has been, in some ways, a spare-time project for them. Not that an incredible amount of work has not been done (it HAS!!!) but that other jobs come in that will generate immediate cash-flow, to cover rent, utilities, wages and ideally, profit, and they take priority while Ricky waits. That, for instance is why the shop ownership allowed him to sit for 7 months at a disastrous upholstery shop, before they realized he simply wasn’t going to be finished there, and so brought him back to their facility. Also, that shop finally folded, plus I think everyone got tired of hearing me scream my frustration. Understand, this restoration is a labor of love for them, and they are immensely proud of the result!

A careful read of this near-novel, starting at Entry 1, will reveal that during this 3-year voyage, B&R Automotive has evolved, both in infrastructure and employees, and the body shop employees who assembled the vehicle as it was last April 11 have been revealed to do wonderful welds (I hope) but maybe not so much when it comes to assembly and paint. These employees no longer work there, for reasons that have not been discussed with me.

When Ricky came ‘home’ in November, the reality that was revealed was of front fenders not properly or perhaps safely joined to skirts and other mounting locations. Therefore, Ricky was (OMG) stripped back to subframe and engine, and reassembled to spec. When body panels were added back, various sheet-metal stresses caused paint cracking, flaking and in places, falling off, so the entire front of the car was sanded down, primed, and sealed all over again! However, new work on another car, committed to by ownership has caused Ricky’s new paint job to go dead in the water for now. Once that new car is completed, they pledge to resume. As we say, that’s the way the mop flops. This is the price I pay for that NTE still being honored. I wait for April, and for now, say “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The good news, if there’s any, is that they have driven Ricky for 173 miles, out on the public right-of-way, without event. When I visit and they describe how he drives, they just grin. Ricky Camaro just needs a total-repaint, reassembly, and an interior, and then he’s mine again.

 

Wow a novel indeed,I'm sure it's painful waiting but it does sound like it will finally be done correctly.

 

Ahh, ‘painful’… Three weeks and two days ago, they informed me that they planned to start back with Ricky's restoration in three weeks, but so far, the silence is deafening.

I recently decided to read this ‘near-novel’ from the beginning, and it surely has been a long journey! As the Grateful Dead said so well, “what a long strange trip it’s been.”

I went through a profound mix of emotions as I read both my scribbling, and the several comments. One of my most recurrent feelings was amusement at my own optimistic expressions of hope that Ricky Camaro was going to be complete in his restoration in ‘the very near future.’ I say that a lot, year after year. Then my hopes are dashed a lot, as I receive exactly what I asked for: slow excellence being more important than ‘not slow, not fast and not somewhere in between; that is,NOT half-fast’.

So, once again, I say “April; I’ll believe it when I see it”. I still intend to stop by and take you for a spin, here in our wonderland of the Pacific Northwest, where we are blessed to live. I just no longer know which year. If I'm in a good mood, I might even let you drive a bit, to help you smile...

And so, on that note, I’m going to sign off until I have ACTUAL positive news, by quoting from the amazing book, A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

 

Hang in there,it's getting closer.